William Bradley Kincaid (July 13, 1895 – September 23, 1989) was an American

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

and radio entertainer.Bradley Kincaid
, Nashville Songwriters Foundation Hall of Fame. Accessed July 4, 2012.

Biography

He was born in Point Leavell,

Garrard County Garrard County ( ;) is a county located in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the county's population was 16,953. Its county seat is Lancaster. The county was formed in 1796 and was named for James Garrard, Governor o ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

but built a music career in the northern states. His debut radio performance came in 1926 on the

National Barn Dance ''National Barn Dance'', broadcast by WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the ''Grand Ole Opry''. ''National Barn Dance'' also set the stage for other ...

show on

WLS-AM WLS (890 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio format. WLS has its radio studios in the NBC Tower on North Columbus Driv ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. A prolific composer of folk and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

tunes, the first edition of his 1928 songbook called ''My Favorite Mountain Ballads'' sold more than 100,000 copies; later editions brought the total to 400,000. He recorded on

Gennett Records Gennett (pronounced "jennett") was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and H ...

. In 1935 he was working at

WBZ-AM WBZ (1030 AM) is a Class A clear channel radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts. Originally started by, and formerly owned for most of its existence by, Westinghouse Broadcasting and its successor CBS Radio, WBZ is owned and operat ...

in Boston, Massachusetts where he performed with a band that included young singer and banjo player Marshall Jones. Kincaid teased the 22-year-old fellow Kentuckian for always being grumpy when he came to the studio to do the early morning broadcast, nicknaming him "Grandpa" Jones. The moniker became permanent for the future

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

star. Kincaid moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

in 1945 where he too became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. In 1971, he was inducted into the

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1970 by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is u ...

. In 1988, the then-93-year-old Kincaid was involved in an automobile accident and sustained injuries from which he never fully recovered. He died in 1989 at the age of 94 in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County, Ohio, Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approxim ...

and was interred there in the Ferncliff Cemetery.Bradley Kincaid
on Find A Grave. Accessed 25 August 2007.

Old Homestead Records Old Homestead Records was a record label based in Michigan specializing in preserving and reissuing recordings of traditional country and bluegrass artists. History John W. Morris launched Old Homestead Record company in 1971 to release new and ...

released several volumes of Kincaid's mountain ballads, hymns, and old-time songs.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kincaid, Bradley 1895 births 1989 deaths American folk singers American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters People from Garrard County, Kentucky Musicians from Springfield, Ohio Gennett Records artists Grand Ole Opry members 20th-century American singers Folk musicians from Kentucky Country musicians from Kentucky Singer-songwriters from Kentucky Singer-songwriters from Ohio Country musicians from Ohio 20th-century American male singers Springfield, Ohio

Biography

See also

Notes

External links